Apparatus for decreasing skip coating on a paper web

Abstract

An fountain applicator for applying coating liquid onto a web of paper carried past the applicator, has a coating liquid flow path that includes a curved surface along which a sheet of the coating liquid is flowed to subject the sheet to centrifugal force to cause air entrained in the coating liquid to move away from one side of the sheet that is toward the curved surface, so that the one side is relatively free of entrained air. After being flowed along the curved surface, the sheet of coating liquid is directed toward the web in a free standing jet curtain of coating liquid, to contact the web surface primarily with the one relatively air-free side of the coating liquid sheet to decrease the occurrence of skip coating on the web surface, especially when the web is traveling past the applicator at high speeds. The coating is applied in excess onto the web surface and is metered and leveled to a desired coat weight by a downstream doctor. The downstream doctor may comprise a single metering device, or it may comprise an intermediate metering device followed by a final metering and leveling device.

Description

[0001] This application is a continuation of co-pending application Ser. No. 09 / 953,724, filed Sep. 17, 2001, which in turn is a division of co-pending application Ser. No. 09 / 371,425, filed Aug. 10, 1999, which is a continuation-in-part of co-pending application Ser. No. 076,694, filed May 12, 1998 and now U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,270, which is a continuation of co-pending application Ser. No. 800,407, filed Feb. 14, 1997 and now U.S. Pat. No. 5,789,023, which is a division of application Ser. No. 432,431, filed Apr. 27, 1995 and now U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,767, which is a division of application Ser. No. 241,475, filed May 12, 1994 and now U.S. Pat. No. 5,436,030, which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 943,919, filed Sep. 11, 1992 and now abandoned.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for applying liquid coating material onto a moving web of paper, and in particular to a coating method and apparatus of the fountain a...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is an applicator for coating liquid onto a moving web. It includes an elongated curved surface that is positioned close to the web, and a means for creating a sheet of coating liquid that flows along the curved surface and then exits as a free standing jet curtain of coating liquid against the web. This results in a more even coating on the web surface, reducing the occurrence of skipping. The excess coating liquid is then doctored to a desired final coat weight using a single or two metering devices. The technical effects of this invention include improved coating quality, reduced coating waste, and improved production efficiency.

Problems solved by technology

However, even when an air removal system is employed, some air remains entrained in the coating and contacts the web, causing skip coating on the web, especially at high speeds of travel of the web past the applicator.

The air removal device 94 removes from the coating liquid much of the entrained air, but it is not 100% effective, so some air remains entrained in the coating liquid delivered to the applicator.

Some of the remaining air that accumulates at the top of the distribution pipe passes through the outlet 100 and is removed, but some still remains entrained in the coating, and with prior fountain applicators, this limited amount of remaining entrained air causes skip coating on a paper web.

Nevertheless, while the magnitude of centrifugal force exerted on the coating liquid sheet may be increased by decreasing the radius of the deflector tip curved surface and vice versa, there also are practical limits on how small the radius may be.

This is because the closed flow path does not allow the thickness of the sheet of coating liquid to increase, as can occur when the coating liquid sheet is not confined, with the result that the speed of the coating passing over the curved surface remains high and the coating is thereby subjected to a stronger centrifugal force that causes greater movement of air bubbles in the coating.

When viscosity is increased, the distance traveled by air bubbles is dramatically decreased because it is more difficult for bubbles to move through thicker liquid.

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